Danske Bank Settles French Money Laundering Probe with €6.33 Million Payment

Danske Bank has reached an agreement with French authorities to settle an investigation into suspected money laundering activities linked to its former branch in Estonia. The Danish lender announced the resolution in a statement, confirming it had cooperated with French authorities throughout the investigation.

“[The company] has now reached a resolution with the French National Financial Prosecutor to settle this investigation by agreeing to pay €6.33 million ($7.04 million),” Danske Bank stated.

This settlement is a fraction of the more than $2 billion the bank agreed to pay in 2022 to resolve similar probes in the United States. The U.S. Department of Justice had accused Danske of enabling high-risk, non-resident customers, particularly those from Russia and other countries outside Estonia, to gain access to the American financial system.

Danske Bank became the focus of multiple investigations following a 2018 internal review, which revealed approximately 200 billion euros in suspicious payments processed through its now-closed Estonian branch. The U.S. investigation concluded in January 2023, when a judge accepted Danske’s guilty plea to a bank fraud conspiracy charge, along with the bank’s agreement to pay over $2 billion.

The formal investigation by French authorities began in 2019. Niels Heering, Danske’s senior general counsel, expressed relief at the conclusion of the matter. “We are pleased to have reached this resolution with the French National Financial Prosecutor,” Heering said in a statement.

Heering further noted that this marked “the final investigation into the bank by any authority related to the non-resident portfolio at Danske Bank’s former Estonia branch.” According to the bank, the financial impact of this settlement had already been accounted for in its provisions.

By fLEXI tEAM